The Call 2013

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: ... a breakneck, truly thrilling thriller, one that builds excitement through both brains and brutality ... Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: An effectively creepy thriller about a 911 operator and a young miss in peril, "The Call" is a model of low-budget filmmaking. Read more

Andrew Barker, Variety: There's little to differentiate this high-pitched screamer from a particularly feverish Law and Order rerun. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: A tense and efficient little thriller right up to the moment when Halle Berry, a 911 operator, decides to leave her desk. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: "The Call" dials up a shallow thrill ride, but one efficiently peppered with your typical "don't go in there!" moments. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Maybe Anderson wants to sell out, but he's not very good at it. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Yes, it's cheese, but it's good cheese. Read more

Entertainment Weekly: If you're going to watch a movie in which two people talk on the phone for most of the film, it's not the worst thing in the world for one of the folks involved to have the face of Storm from the X-Men. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: "The Call" consciously decides to slowly drown itself in the tub. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: This is a cleverly made, smartly written, totally satisfying armrest-gripper. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: For the most part ... a tense, extreme-jeopardy thriller that delivers the intended goods. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: The material has the mild impact of a special episode of a network crime series, with Eklund's villain a figure of mannered creepiness rather than profound chills. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's a lot better than you might expect a movie like this to be. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: The shoddy attention to character, plausibility, and detail is particularly surprising coming from Anderson, a director of smart indie thrillers like The Machinist, Session 9 and Transsiberian. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Let's call The Call what it is: high quality trash that both diminishes and is redeemed by all the talents who have deigned to bring it to life. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: I'll say one thing for "The Call": Its ending is actually a bit of a surprise. Just when you think it couldn't get any stupider, pow! Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The film is at once shamelessly transparent, manipulative, and far-fetched, and impossibly suspenseful. You'll want to take a shower afterward - that's how icky you'll feel. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This is as brain-dead as a movie can be and it assumes the audience will have the I.Q. of a rutabaga. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Chicago Sun-Times: A sputtering, so-so B thriller with a neat hook but very little personality. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: If it were any more intense would require a complete physical and medical clearance for admission into the theater. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Thinking about seeing The Call? You may want to put that on hold. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: When The Call focuses on Berry and her headset, the movie maintains an entertaining level of suspense; when it becomes yet another Silence of the Lambs rip-off, you can feel the tension seep away. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Just when the movie has us in its grasp, the script falls to pieces and turns into a crass female-in-peril button-pusher. Read more

Sam Adams, Time Out: Crude as it is, The Call milks its jump scares and don't-go-down-to-the-basement tension for all they're worth. See it with a full house, if you absolutely must see it at all. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The Call cribs from so many other psychological thrillers that it might as well be called "The Girl With the Lovely Bones Cellular Silence of the Lambs.'' Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Can't someone come up with screenwriting software that signals when a script has made the fatal slip from hyped-up suspense to sheer ludicrousness? Read more